Our shady area at Holt Wood, which was originally designed for mushroom-inoculated logs, is turning out to be an ideal sheltered spot for growing on cuttings and divided plants. By bringing in some extra aluminium stands there is suddenly more space to put pots. Having a bigger space for propagation of medicinal trees and shrubs is exciting!! It is time to think ahead, and I am working on some planting lists for seeds and cuttings.


At our courses in May and June in 2019 at Holt Wood, we gave away some seeds gathered in the previous year, much to the delight of participants – varying from St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) to feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) and vervain (Verbena officinalis). In addition to the seeds, we were quite surprised at how keen visitors were to buy some of our homegrown plants. We had already sold most of our seedlings of Virginian witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) at the Buckfast Abbey Fair in early June. But in a shady corner I had potted up some figwort (Scrophularia nodosa) and elecampane (Inula helenium) amongst others. Some course members went away clutching these alongside cuttings of violet willow (Salix daphnoides) and cramp bark (Viburnum opulus) to plant up, and I hope these have all succeeded.

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
